I once had a person who contacted me to inquire about helping him gain more visibility and credibility. He told me point blank in a terse voice: “I know you’ve written a book, but I will not write a book although I’m a writer. I mean I’ve written two articles in the last ten years! I’m not a speaker. I don’t do videos, and I don’t talk on the phone.”

Ummmm…. Ok….Seriously?

I can’t even think of where to start. The attitude? The voice tone? The abrupt way he started the conversation? The inability to see how he’s stopping himself? His lack of understanding of business?

And get this – He was an executive coach specializing in communication skills.

No wonder he hadn’t had a client in over a year. As they say, “A negative mind will never give you a positive life.”

I have to admit that I was fascinated by this conversation. In fact, I thought it may have been someone pulling a prank on me. I asked him what other executive coaches he admired. He named someone. I asked him how he found out about that coach, to which he said something like this: “Well he has written a few books and speaks at conferences all over the world. People tell him how great he is on his web site and videos. It’s crazy! I mean he gets paid 6 figures just for a few months of work! Jeesh! I wish I could have a piece of that!”

Again – I was thinking that this may be a joke. I mean… he just told me that this person he admires did all the same things that he told me he will not do. Was he kidding?

This person had way more personal development work to do than I typically deal with. This was more like a case for a psychiatrist who could prescribe medication perhaps. I knew I wouldn’t work with him because of his attitude, but I gave him some tough love anyway. I pointed out that the saying “success leaves clues” is true, and that he had missed many of these clues. Not only did he miss clues in terms of what the coach he admired was doing, but even more, he missed lessons in how that coach was being in order to build such a following and command such high fees.

He dismissed my input immediately and our conversation was pretty much over.

Here’s the lesson: We can always benefit from paying close attention to a person who has something in their life that we want to have in our own. It could be a thriving business, a successful marriage, a fit body, or anything really. When I talk with clients about their personal brand, I often ask questions like: Who are the people you admire that have accomplished something you want to accomplish? What qualities do they have and what actions do they take that you can bring into your own life, in your own unique way? What strategies do you see them using to design the outcome you admire? How can you bring those things into your life and business in your own way?

I invite you to consider these questions for yourself for every area of your life and business. Again, success leaves clues. And they’re really not that hard to see.

© 2014 Meredith Liepelt, Rich Life Marketing